Catch and release tuna...

[Captain Fred Archer]

We used to lip (actually mouth) gaff tuna for picts prior to release, like is shown below. We quit it before long and just did as I wrote earlier. Way back when I pin hooked for GBFT, we knew that we had to beat 'em up fast. The reason? Simple...Yoshi the tuna buyer wouldn't touch a fish that had been fought for more than fifteen minutes or so, other than to take a sample and say, "Burned. No want."

Website www.FredArchersWorldofFishing.com

[tunatamer4]

add to this real quick, the boss took a bunch of scientists for a bluefin study a few years back. They would spin the blood on every fish they caught right there on the boat. They went through about 40 fish in 5 days. The scientists determined that the maximum fight time is 22 minutes for a bluefin to make it, after that the oxygen was so depleted in their blood that they said the fish could not recover.

Dont know if the study was ever published, but I have heard this story many times from him.

Now the thing to think about this study is, did they swim the fish back to "life" and retry the blood, or just determine that after 22 minutes they're dead and that's it, no matter what?

I would think that if they were swam for a bit they could recover, they might be a little retarded from lack of O2 to the brain, but they could survive.

[IhaveaBream]

Hey, I dont normally post anything on here, but in this case i will. Go to www.tag a giant.com and you can read all about the tag and release program. Unfortunately, that is typically not the attitude of many of the east coast fisherman. we just returned from North Carolina and was very disappointed in the Bluefin fishery so far this year. There have been very few fish caught, mainly the local charter boats are able to catch more consistantly. The crazy thing is that i dont know of any other place where you can take anything that floats from anywhere, and buy a permit to catch and sell 3 tunas over 73' per day. you can literally put rodholders on your truck and the state of Nc will sell you a permit. private boats, big and small are here from all over with he intention of making christmas or beer money. There are probably more fish killed by people using the wrong tackle, poor boat driving and breaking big fish off with a lot of line attached - leading to a dead fish. This was a fun fishery when it was catch and release and the local charter boats had good clients happy to go out and catch and releases. If you dont make 100% of your income from fishing, commercial or charter, than you should not be allowed to sell. NC makes it way too easy and now the results are becoming more and more apparent . A no fish season may deter a lot of people from coming back with the same attitude.

Besides , a giant isnt a giant until he is well into the 500lb range. The 30lb - 350 lb fish are babies. Hunters dont go shooting baby bears and small elephants. Same here, there seems to be a macho attitude amongst some of the boats targeting tuna and that needs to change. Maybe these fish are all these guys can handle, but its not cool. let me know what you think of tag a giant site.

great post and some points I strongly agree with. i think the lack of well-enforced fisheries regs is causing a global problem we are all going to suffer from in the coming decades

[Big Jay]

I watched an episode of a local fishing show here in NJ where they showed an awesome way of releasing school BFT when they took there 1 for the day.

Basically, you start by not using SS hooks when its catch and release time. Get a tarp and put a section of old carpet underneath. Open your fish door and lay the carpet with tarp over it like a "runway" in front of it.

If you are trolling use as heavy of a leader as possible, and same for chunking. When the fish to be released is boatside, put her in reverse, grab the leader with gloves and drag the fish head first onto your tarp. Throw a wet towel over the fish, remove the hook quickly. Pick her up by the tail and send her back to the deep with a nice head first head start.

If the hook pulls as you are pulling her in the boat....even better. It's catch and release anyway.

[stew]

The tagging we have done would show that 22 mins is nothing for the sbft, they will survive that no problem. We swim fish once we get near the 40-45min mark or when they show obvious signs of fatigue, bad color or no energy. We have also had the scientest taking blood samples to check for ph and other levels and have found the fish to be in good shape upon release. Our datat would show that this fish survive. Capt. Eric

[striper swiper]

I watched an episode of a local fishing show here in NJ where they showed an awesome way of releasing school BFT when they took there 1 for the day.

Basically, you start by not using SS hooks when its catch and release time. Get a tarp and put a section of old carpet underneath. Open your fish door and lay the carpet with tarp over it like a "runway" in front of it.

If you are trolling use as heavy of a leader as possible, and same for chunking. When the fish to be released is boatside, put her in reverse, grab the leader with gloves and drag the fish head first onto your tarp. Throw a wet towel over the fish, remove the hook quickly. Pick her up by the tail and send her back to the deep with a nice head first head start.

If the hook pulls as you are pulling her in the boat....even better. It's catch and release anyway.

Everything but the picking up by the tail part is good They are not built to support their weight by the tail out of the water Better way is to support the belly while holding the tail to stabilize the fish and drop in head first or just slide it out on the tarp if you can works also

[Captain Fred Archer]

Sorry to be a wet blanket (pun intended), but in my book (pun again intended), I don't see why a tuna that one wants to release in as healthy a condition as possible has to be slid, lifted, bounced, or floated into a cockpit and handled in any way, shape or form, unless there are scientific studies taking place. They are built by nature to live in the water and as far as I'm concerned, fish that are intended for release should be left there and released there.

Good advice on the picking them up by the tail thing. No matter how you want to slice it, I stand by leaving those fish in their element and getting the hook out or cutting it if it's a barbless circle hook like we use if there is some sort of problem with the hook position.

The same applies to billfish. We released them all except the swords and spears. No billing them and having them damage the hell out of themselves pounding their heads on the side of the boat (I can remember back in the bad old days seeing big blues and blacks stone killed with one blow to the head with those old fashioned, heavy Coke bottles. One shot and that was it!) while crew try to retrieve hooks. And worse yet, crew heaving them up on the gunnel or into the cockpit for the that "grinning hero with the marlin he caught" photo. Again, why take chances on injuring a billfish so it swims away and dies later, when if you can forgo that getting a hook or (far, far worse and dangerous to both the fish and crew) double hook set "with one hook for the fish and one for the fisherman" back? That is a sad reason to fatally injure a billfish that you supposedly want to have live, if you ask me.

If you have biologists aboard with slings and things who are doing research, that's one thing. But if you are supposedly sport fishing and respect and cherish the resource, no matter what species, my policy is to do my best to see that they survive and leave the scientific stuff to the pros. And besides, on my boat, at least, people who wanted to play with the fishies in the boat, instead of immediately catching more were tolerated, but there were no silly games with the fish when the bite was on, or even when it wasn't. "Sorry, sir, but we don't boat, or even bill or gunnel or cockpit hang gamefish...get some great shots of them in the water and let's catch some more!"

That's how I do it. Of course, you can do it however you choose.

WEBSITE www.FredArchersWorldofFishing.com